


This Spells Trouble

by Blizzard96



Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Gen, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-20
Updated: 2018-03-20
Packaged: 2019-04-05 06:49:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14038551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blizzard96/pseuds/Blizzard96
Summary: “It’s not exactly lycanthropy since I can control when I transform.”Sehyoon considered this answer. “So…you’re a furry?”“Yes, I- wait, what?” Byeongkwan’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s a furry? Are they the Muggle equivalent of shapeshifters?”Or: Sehyoon accidentally discovers a magical world, Byeongkwan fails at being Santa, Donghun has an existential crisis once a month, Jun is not joining a boyband, and Yuchan has everyone in school fooled except the Sorting Hat.





	This Spells Trouble

Sehyoon was trying to make some headway on his summer math lessons that evening, hunched over the low coffee table in the living room. He had no idea who decided that coffee tables had to be at perfect shin bumping height, but he was determined to write them a strongly worded letter should he ever find out. Coffee tables were way too low to feasibly complete homework on, but the dining table was already covered by various papers from his father and mother and his desk in his room was already so cluttered that he’d forgotten what color the wood was underneath, so Sehyoon was forced to make do kneeling in the living room.

He rubbed his eyes as the little black numbers on the page started to blur before him. It wasn’t that he was bad at math, far from it as he was top of his class in that regard. Math happened to be one of the few things that had remained the same when his family had moved from South Korea to London, and he was grateful that he was still able to stay on top of one of his subjects. However, it was nearing one in the morning, the rest of his family was already in bed, and he hadn’t been able to focus on his work for the past fifteen minutes. 

He dropped his pencil on the table and shoved his math papers back into his binder, resolving that he’d deal with it tomorrow morning. Sehyoon had just stood up, joints in his back popping, when suddenly there was a clamor that came from his chimney followed shortly by a loud yowling noise, like a large cat had taken up residence there. He paused, wondering if maybe somehow a stray cat had somehow gotten stuck in the structure before considering if it was even possible for a stray cat to get on his roof and crawl into the chimney in the first place. 

He made his way over to the chimney to peek up it, hoping to maybe see where the animal that had gotten stuck. He briefly debated waking his parents up to help, but decided against it, since they’d both been more tired than normal that evening. He could definitely handle a stuck cat alone, he was pretty sure. Sehyoon squinted against the darkness. 

“You okay kitty?” he called up the chimney, hoping to soothe the cat. Without warning, a dark figure tumbled down from the darkness and then out of the opening of his fireplace, swearing up a storm and knocking Sehyoon to the ground. ‘I didn’t think cats could swear,’ he thought nonsensically as he hit the thankfully carpeted floor, head spinning. He suddenly realized what kind of situation he was in when the figure shifted, and he realized it was definitely not a cat on top of him, but another person.

His heart rate picked up. Sehyoon had never heard of a burglar coming through the chimney before, but the soot covered figure was groaning and he had to act fast. Without thinking, he struggled under the figure and just barely managed to reach his binder that he’d left sitting on the coffee table. Though his improvised weapon left a lot to be desired, he would have to make do, and he immediately began whacking the figure with his binder as hard as he could. The unknown person yelped and rolled off Sehyoon.

Just as he got to his feet and was about to bring his binder down again, the figure threw up its hands in surrender. “Wait!” Sehyoon found himself hesitating against his better judgement when he heard the voice. Now that he was able to see more clearly, he realized that the intruder was just a boy who looked even younger than Sehyoon himself. “I come in peace!”

Sehyoon blinked, bringing the binder down to his chest, but still keeping it between him and the other person. “What are you, an alien?”

“Yuchan told me it was what I should say in this kind of situation,” the boy said, almost sheepishly. The boy got to his feet and dusted off his robes, seriously robes, and Sehyoon frowned at the black soot spreading all over the carpet. His mother would not be happy.

“Do you make it a habit to break into other people’s houses?” Sehyoon asked, eyebrows raised. Maybe he should start swinging again anyway.

“No, no,” the boy said, waving his hands hastily. “It was an… an…” he cursed under his breath in Korean. Sehyoon honestly didn’t know what surprised him more, the fact that this boy had tumbled out of his fireplace, or the fact that he spoke Korean. Actually, scratch that, it was definitely the breaking and entering that surprised him more.

“Accident?” the boy tried in Korean before wincing.

“You wound up in my fireplace accidentally?” Sehyoon countered in the same language. 

The boy’s face brightened instantly. “You speak Korean? That’s a relief. I would have had a hell of a time explaining this in English.”

“Honestly, I don’t think the language is gonna make it easier for me to understand where you came from,” Sehyoon said. “Who are you?”

“My name is Byeongkwan. I was trying to get to my friend Jun’s place,” the boy explained. “But I sneezed while I was trying to Floo in, really the British should work out a better transportation method, and suddenly I was here. I tried to Apparate away midair, but then I accidentally transformed into my Animagus form instead and got stuck in your chimney. I just changed back, and I was about to owl my friend since I don’t have anymore Floo powder, but then you attacked me!” he pointed at Sehyoon’s binder which was looking considerably worse for wear.

Sehyoon frowned. “I understood about half of those words. What’s flew powder? Is it a drug? Are you high?”

“No!” Byeongkwan’s eyes widened. “Wait, are you a Muggle?!”

“Is that an insult?” Sehyoon asked, bewildered.

“No,” he paused before correcting himself, “Well maybe to some people, but it just means…Oh god, the Ministry’s gonna be on my ass after this. I knew this exchange program was a bad idea.” He raked a hand through his hair in agitation. “Okay look,” he pulled out a thin stick and pointed it at Sehyoon. “You’re going to have to forget that I was here. I have no idea how your house was hooked up to the Floo network, but you can’t tell anyone I was here!”

“Or... you’ll poke me with your stick?” Sehyoon asked, raising his binder in front of him as a shield. Paper beat stick, right?

The boy huffed. “I would Obliviate you, but the Ministry would know as soon as I used the spell.” 

“Spell?” Sehyoon asked. “What like a magic spell?”

“I shouldn’t tell you,” the boy groaned, lowering his stick. “I need to wait for my owl.”

“Your…owl,” Sehyoon repeated. “Yeah okay, tonight is already weird enough, let’s add in an owl. Is this, like, a literal owl or…?” There was a sharp rap on one of the windows, making Sehyoon jolt. He looked over to a window in the living room to see a small bird pecking at the glass. When he drew back the sheer curtain, he could clearly see a very impatient looking owl hovering outside, seemingly offended by Sehyoon’s confusion. “That’s a real owl, alright.”

“There she is!” Byeongkwan said, running to Sehyoon’s window and throwing it open. The small fluffy owl soared in without hesitation and landed on one of the decorative plants Sehyoon’s mom kept in the room. “Am I glad to see you!” Byeongkwan sighed, reaching into the pocket of his robes and pulling out a long piece of paper and a pen. He scrawled something down and gave it to the owl, who took it in its beak. “Take that to Jun,” Byeongkwan ordered. With one last glare in Sehyoon's direction, the owl was gone in a few flaps of its wings. Byeongkwan slid the window shut behind her.

Sehyoon had been silent throughout the whole exchange. He wondered if maybe he’d finally lost it due to stress, or maybe he’d fallen asleep at the coffee table and would be woken tomorrow by his sister and realize this had all been a really weird caffeine induced dream. He sat down heavily on the couch, regaining Byeongkwan’s attention. He pinched his arm lightly. Nope, not a dream.

“Hey, are you okay?” Byeongkwan asked, concerned. He approached warily, like Sehyoon was a frightened animal that might bolt any second.

“I’m just… This is a lot to take in,” Sehyoon said, sitting down on the couch heavily, hugging the binder to his chest like a life preserver. “There was an owl in my house.”

“Sorry,” Byeongkwan said. “I can’t imagine how jarring this must be if you weren’t born into it.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, maybe twenty, just regarding each other. This was way too much for Sehyoon to process at 1 am. 

“Let me just try and get some things straight. So, are you like a wizard or something then?” Sehyoon asked.

Byeongkwan nodded. “Yeah. Well, I’m still in school for it.”

“There’s a school?” Sehyoon asked.

Byeongkwan hesitate before shrugging. “Eh, what the hell. You’ll probably be Obliviated anyway.” That did not build Sehyoon’s confidence. “Yeah, there’s a magic school here in the UK. I’m here on an exchange program, though I must say the curriculum here is lacking. Can you believe they don’t even teach Muggle history? Do they think the wizarding world and the normal world will never affect each other?”

“I could not tell you,” Sehyoon answered. “So you flew in here?”

“Yeah, I Floo’ed in,” Byeongkwan said, “And that’s Floo, F-L-O-O. I think it’s what British people call a chimney.” He made a face. “It lets you teleport between fireplaces hooked up to the Floo network.”

“And my house is on this network?” Sehyoon asked, dread growing in his stomach. If one person showed up in his fireplace, did that mean that others could? He briefly had a horrifying image of wizards tumbling out his fireplace like it was a magical clown car. “Oh my god, I need to start lighting fires.”

“No, no, I’ll let someone know what happened,” Byeongkwan said. “They’ll remove your house. Maybe the hadn’t yet because the former tenant was a wizard or something.”

Sehyoon nodded slowly. “And what was that other thing you mentioned? The… anime magic thing.”

“It’s ‘Animagus’,” Byeongkwan corrected. “And it means I can turn into an animal form.”

“Like a werewolf?” Sehyooon asked.

Byeongkwan shook his head. “It’s not exactly lycanthropy since I can control when I transform.”

Sehyoon considered this answer. “So…you’re a furry?”

“Yes, I- wait, what?” Byeongkwan’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What’s a furry? Are they the Muggle equivalent of shapeshifters?”

Sehyoon thought about it for a second. “Yeah basically.”

Byeongkwan brightened. “Then I’m a furry!” Sehyoon had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing despite himself. Maybe he should feel bad about misleading the other boy like that, but to be fair Byeongkwan did break into his house and ruin the carpet. Also, it didn’t appear that the other boy had really been on the Internet much, if at all, so Sehyoon doubted the other would come across the term in any context.

“I see,” he managed.

Byeongkwan’s face paled a bit. “But you can’t tell anyone about the shapeshifting! I’m supposed to wait to get a license here I already have one in Korea though.” He made a face. “I have no idea why they wait so long to license people in the UK.”

Sehyoon nodded like he understood. “That sucks.” He was about to ask another question, when suddenly there was another whoosh from his fireplace and another boy slid out of his chimney. The new arrival got to his feet and dusted off his robes (Sehyoon guessed the robes were a magic thing because they were definitely not that fashionable).

“Jun!” Byeongkwan exclaimed, jumping to his feet. “You found me!”

“No thanks to your note,” the boy, Jun apparently, said. He pulled a scrap of paper out. “Seriously, your handwriting is atrocious.” He handed the paper back to Byeongkwan who stuffed it in his robes. “Why didn’t you just Apparate away?”

“There’s…” Byeongkwan unsubtly tilted his head in Sehyoon’s direction. Sehyoon waved to Jun from the couch. Jun blinked, just noticing the other’s presence.

He frowned. “Did you accidentally break into someone’s house?!”

“Yeah, and there’s something else,” Byeongkwan said.

Jun sighed. “Of course there is.”

“He’s a Muggle,” Byeongkwan said pointing to Sehyoon. The other boy did a double take.

“Kim Byeongkwan,” Jun started dangerously, looking five seconds from an aneurysm.

“It was an accident!” Byeongkwan said defensively. “It’s not my fault their house is hooked up into the Floo network!”

“I really didn’t need this today,” Jun said under his breath. He shot Sehyoon an apologetic look. “Sorry you got mixed up in this. We’ll handle everything. Until then, can you just promise not to tell anyone?”

“I’m going to assume there’s an ‘or else’ in there,” Sehyoon said.

Jun winced. “Well, it wouldn’t be from us, but the Ministry would not be happy and, I’ll be honest, I really need this study abroad opportunity.”

Sehyoon regarded both wizards, who were staring at him warily. “I won’t tell anyone. Who’d believe me anyway? I’m still not totally convinced myself, and I’m sitting right here.”

Byeongkwan let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

“Am I going to forget this somehow?” Sehyoon asked.

Byeongkwan looked conflicted. “They’ll probably send someone to wipe your memory. That's what Obliviating is. It’s for the best.”

“But…” Sehyoon began. Even though he hadn't known Byeongkwan long, he found himself curious to learn more about the other boy's world. Magic was something straight out of the books he used to read as a child. He'd tried every magical spell he saw people do on TV and in the movies, but his hopes of someday learning magic were eventually crushed in his early childhood after several fruitless years. The thought of leaving magic behind again left him feeling empty.

“We need to go,” Jun said, oblivious to Sehyoon's hesitation. He glanced at the digital clock near the TV. “I’m sorry again, uh…”

“Sehyoon,” Sehyoon offered.

“Sehyoon,” Jun said, nodding. “Who knows, maybe we’ll all meet again someday?” Jun pulled a wadded up newspaper out of his pocket. “Grab on,” he ordered Byeongkwan. The other boy grabbed the newspaper.

“Bye Sehyoon!” he said cheerfully. "It was nice meeting you, even if you probably won't remember it." The two wizards were gone in a flash of light and a rush of wind, leaving Sehyoon’s apartment behind like it was all part of a dream. The next morning when Sehyoon got up after a sleepless night of tossing and turning, the sun shone and the birds sang like they always did. There was still the rush of traffic on the streets outside. To the rest of the planet nothing had changed, but Sehyoon felt like the world had somehow gotten bigger.

 

* * *

 

_Two months later_

 

“Kim Sehyoon!”

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

Byeongkwan did a double take as he watched the very familiar face make his way to a cheering yellow table. Sehyoon scanned the crowd at the Great Hall before his eyes landed on Byeongkwan. He waved to the Slytherin before sitting down.

“Do you know him?” Yuchan whispered from next to Byeongkwan, clapping as the next student was announced.

“I’ve bumped into him before,” Byeongkwan said, recalling their previous encounter. “I didn’t think he was magic though. And I definitely didn't think he was a Hufflepuff.” He chanced another glance at the Hufflepuff table. Sehyoon was already chatting with another student in English. The student was pointing to the head table, so Byeongkwan guessed he was pointing out all the professors. “He’s too old to be a first year. I wonder where they’ll put him.”

Yuchan shrugged. “Maybe they’ll build a crash course?”

“I guess,” Byeongkwan said. Eventually, Professor McGonagall wrapped up the new students, gave and opening speech, and food appeared along the table. All the students began digging in, grabbing rolls and sauces from the middle of the table as various dishes floated overhead. Though the food was delicious, Byeongkwan missed the Korean dishes from home. He couldn’t wait to go back for winter break.

“You should go talk to him,” Yuchan said around a mouthful of mashed potatoes. “I’m sure he’d be happy to see a familiar face.” Byeongkwan nodded, glancing back at the Hufflepuff table. Sehyoon currently had his eyes locked on the ghost of the Fat Friar who was energetically recounting a story to him and the rest of the first years.

When all the food had disappeared, he split off from Yuchan with a wave to head toward the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room. He rapped off the rhythm on one of the barrels, and the entrance opened before him revealing the comfortable common area. He spotted Sehyoon almost immediately. The new student was sitting awkwardly off to one side in a large armchair.

“Sehyoon!” he called, getting the other’s attention. His head snapped up, and Sehyoon grinned when he spotted Byeongkwan walking toward him.

“Hey!” he noted Byeongkwan’s green and silver tie. “Wait, you’re…Slytherin, right? How did you get in here?”

“We know how to get into every common room,” Byeongkwan laughed.

“‘We’?” Sehyoon asked.

“Oh yeah, there’s three other guys in the Korean exchange program I’m a part of,” Byeongkwan explained. “We’re all pretty close, but I’m sure they’d love to meet you. I’ll introduce you sometime. But for now I have some questions.” 

Sehyoon shrugged. “Fire away.”

“You’re magic?” Byeongkwan blurted, “I thought you were a Muggle!”

“I did too,” Sehyoon said, grinning. “Some guy came to my house and he was dressed super officially. He said he was from the Ministry of Magic. I assumed he was the guy who was going to wipe my memory.”

Byeongkwan nodded. He’d wondered what had happened once he reported the incident. “But since you’re here, I’m guessing they didn’t wipe your mind.”

“Yeah,” Sehyoon replied. “They had me and my sister take a test and deemed us to have magical potential. Then we had to sit through a bunch of explanations and then sign a ton of paperwork. They told us we had to go to school to control our magic.”

“Wow,” Byeongkwan said, eyebrows raised. “Did you get a wand? Do you have to start at first year? Do your parents know?”

Sehyoon blinked. “Uh, they said I’m on a special curriculum since I already had plans for what I wanted to do after I graduate. I’m mainly supposed to learn the basics of my magic so it doesn’t get out of control, but if I want a magical career I’m going to have to take extra years of lessons. They told my family, and my parents have been nothing but supportive. My sister is planning on starting next year though. And yes, I did get a wand.” He pulled his wand out of his pocket. “I think the man I bought it from said it had a dragon heartstring, though it’s honestly more of a glorified stick since I haven't gotten it to anything since I picked it out.”

Byeongkwan hummed. “It’s hard to get started. A lot of kids here have at least one magical parent, so they got a jump on training with magic.”

“Did you?” Sehyoon asked, before quickly backtracking, “Sorry, is that too personal?”

Byeongkwan laughed. “It’s usually not taboo to ask that. Most people will probably let you know if they’re pure blood, in fact.” Sehyoon looked relieved. “Both my parents were magical. Of the other exchange students, Yuchan and Jun’s moms were magical and Donghun doesn’t have any magical relatives.”

“Oh, good,” Sehyoon breathed, “I was worried my case was odd.”

The Slytherin shook his head. “Nah. Honestly, no one really gets worked up about it nowadays. Especially not since the Battle of Hogwarts.”

Sehyoon’s brow furrowed. “Uh, what’s that?”

“You don’t know what the Battle of Hogwarts was?!” Byeongkwan asked in disbelief.

“I haven’t read through all my textbooks yet,” Sehyoon said sheepishly. “I’ve been busy trying to figure out the banking system.”

Byeongkwan blew out a breath. “Oh man. Okay get comfortable, because I am about to give you a crash course on one of the most serious wizarding wars the world has seen.”

 

* * *

 

“Useless,” Donghun said, tossing his Care of Magical Creatures homework to the side.

“What’s wrong?” Jun asked, looking up from his Potions essay. They were sitting in the Ravenclaw common room, but no one made a comment about Jun’s out of place red and gold tie. He hung around Donghun so much, he was practically an honorary Ravenclaw.

“I’ve been over the course work five times, and I haven’t found a single course with real world application!” Donghun said, throwing up his hands. “The only jobs you could possibly get after graduating are in the magical world.” His voice had picked up volume and intensity as he got more worked up. A few of the other Ravenclaws looked over, but that was probably more because they were wondering whey an exchange student was shouting in Korean. “Did you know these wizards haven’t had a proper math class since they were eleven?”

“Well, isn’t there a Muggle studies class?” Jun asked, scratching out a sentence on his essay.

Donghun snorted. “Please. I sat in on the class during my free period, and the teacher took fifteen minutes to explain a microwave. Incorrectly!” He sighed and slumped back in the armchair. “I thought studying abroad was supposed to offer more opportunities!”

Jun shrugged. “Maybe you could try working as an ambassador between Muggles and wizards?”

Donghun shook his head. “These wizards aren’t ready to reveal themselves. And that’s still not really a job I want to go into.” He frowned. “Maybe I should just raise dragons in Romania until I die.”

Jun paused. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Well, what are you going to do when you graduate?” Donghun challenged.

Jun set his quill down, considering the question. “I…I guess I expected to do something with Charms. Maybe sell magical items that I charmed? Maybe do something with music too?”

Donghun gave him a blank look. “We could start a boy band.”

“What?!” Jun laughed. “We don’t play instruments.”

“Plenty of boybands don’t play instruments,” Donghun replied.

“What’s this about a boy band?” The two boys looked up to see Yuchan had just entered the common room.

“How did you get in here?” Donghun asked the Slytherin.

Yuchan gave him a dry look, and Donghun was suddenly reminded of why the unassuming boy had been put in Slytherin in the first place. “Please. The riddles that eagle gives are the ones I found in a joke book in third grade. Now tell me about your boy band.”

“We are not forming a boy band,” Jun said.

“Not with that attitude,” Donghun said.

“I want to join your boy band,” Yuchan said excitedly. “I can sing!”

“You took dance classes before too, right?” Donghun asked. Yuchan nodded enthusiastically.

“Alright!” Jun put his hands up. “No boy bands!” he pointed to Yuchan who made a face, “And no existential crises!” he pointed to Donghun. “We are going to finish this year, we’re going to complete this study abroad program, and then we’re going to figure out what we’re doing with our lives.” Donghun and Yuchan both exchanged a look as Jun sat back in his armchair, glaring at them.

“So, I’m thinking we should name our band with some kind of acronym,” Yuchan said, turning to Donghun. “It’s what all the cool bands are doing these days.” Jun let his head fall forward onto the desk, inches from his essay, and groaned into the table.

 

* * *

 

“Guys, this is Kim Sehyoon,” Byeongkwan said, sliding into the table. Sehyoon followed behind, glancing around the library. He was particularly interested in the way the books were literally flying off the shelves, covers flapping like bird wings, but managed to refocus on the others. There were three other boys sitting at the table, all from different houses, with stacks of heavy textbooks, sheets of parchment, and quills strewn about.

“I remember,” Jun said, giving Sehyoon a toothy smile. “It’s good to meet you officially. Park Junhee, but I go by Jun.”

“I’m Yuchan. Kang Yuchan,” the Slytherin introduced himself.

“And I’m Lee Donghun,” the final boy said, looking Sehyoon up and down. “Can you sing or dance, by any chance?”

Sehyoon stared blankly for a second. “Yes…?” he said hesitantly, wondering if that was relevant to the whole magic thing.

Donghun nodded solemnly. “That’s good.”

“What?” Byeongkwan asked, looking between Donghun and Sehyoon with confusion. Sehyoon was just as lost.

Jun sighed. “Donghun had a bit of a breakdown, and he wants to start a boy band.”

“I mean,” Byeongkwan said, drawing out the words, “It’s not the worst idea he’s had. I’ll join if I get to rap. God knows you can’t.”

“Should I be insulted?” Donghun asked. The blonde Slytherin just waved him off.

“So Sehyoon, are you from South Korea too?” Yuchan asked, ignoring Donghun and Byeongkwan’s debate on whether rap or vocals should be the band’s focus.

Sehyoon nodded. “My family moved to London a few months ago for my dad’s job.”

Yuchan beamed. “Well, it’s good to have someone else here,” he said, switching to Korean. “The English trips me up sometimes. Byeongkwan’s the best at it.”

“But how did you meet Jun and Byeongkwan before?” Donghun asked.

Sehyoon frowned, recalling the event. “He fell out of my chimney.”

“What?” The Ravenclaw whipped around to Byeongkwan for verification.

“I sneezed while Flooing!” Byeongkwan exclaimed defensively. He crossed his arms over his chest. “It could have happened to anyone!” 

“And yet I’m not surprised that it happened to you,” Donghun deadpanned.

“Wow,” Yuchan said. “Are your parents magic?”

“No, they said my dad was a…” he frowned, trying to remember the exact term the Ministry official had used. “Squid? Something like that.”

Yuchan made a knowing sound. “A Squib. It’s just how these British people talk about non-magical kids born into magical families.”

“Why does every term they use sound like an insult?” Sehyoon wondered.

Jun shrugged. “When I first got here I thought a Muggle was some kind of card game.”

“So, how long are you stuck taking classes for?” Donghun asked. “They didn’t stick you with the first years, did they?”

Sehyoon shook his head. “Nah, I’m stuck in some specialized courses that mainly teach me to control my magic. I’ll probably get a job in the non-magic world once I finish my normal schooling.”

Donghun pouted. “He gets to take normal classes too?! What am I going to do? I’m going to be stuck in the job market with no applicable skills! How am I going to pull together a resume like this?!” He buried his face in his hands, and Jun patted him on the back awkwardly.

“I’m sure you’ll have something employers want, like…” Jun frowned, “You could do physical labor.”

“Ughhhhhh,” Donghun groaned.

“He might be stuck like that for a while,” Byeongkwan stage whispered to Sehyoon.

“Does that happen often?” Sehyoon asked, watching as the parchment near Donghun unfurled and rolled back up in time with Donghun’s sighs.

Byeongkwan tilted his head to the side. “Maybe… once a month?” He nodded to himself. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” Sehyoon found himself grinning. At first coming to this magic school had seemed like a daunting task, but now he thought it just might be the experience he’d been waiting for. From what he could tell, the other boys were nice enough and he was sure it'd be an interesting school year. 

Byeongkwan suddenly turned to Yuchan. “Did you know that Muggles call Animagi 'furries'?” he asked excitedly. “Sehyoon told me that!” The warm fuzzy feeling he’d had disappeared in a flash, and suddenly Sehyoon wanted nothing more than the floor to open up and swallow him whole.

There was beat of silence as his words seemed to echo through the group. Then Yuchan lost it, bent over howling with laughter and grabbing onto the edge of the table for support. Jun had to turn away, his shoulders shaking, and Donghun just stared at Byeongkwan in disbelief.

“I can’t have a furry in my boy band,” he said.

“Rude,” Byeongkwan replied with a frown.

“Uh, about that,” Sehyoon said, rubbing the back of his neck. “You probably shouldn’t say that you’re a furry.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sehyoon,” Yuchan said, in between gasping breaths. “I think he should announce it in the Great Hall at the top of his lungs.”

“What Sehyoon probably means is that you’re still an illegal Animagus,” Jun said, finally managing to get his giggles under control, though the corners of his mouth twitched upward. 

Byeongkwan’s mouth formed an ‘o’. “I see. You’re right.” He smiled at Sehyoon. “I’ll wait to get my furry license first.” Yuchan laughed so hard Sehyoon thought he might pull something.

“Uh-huh,” Sehyoon agreed helplessly. He couldn’t bring himself to tell the other boy the truth when Byeongkwan gave him a radiant smile. He hoped the rest of the year didn't follow this pattern.

**Author's Note:**

> Byeongkwan's Animagus form is a cheetah, in case you were wondering.


End file.
